Camera



Patented Dec. l5, 1942 UNITEDA STATES PATENT OFFICE CAMERA Karl Nuchterlein, Dresden, Germany; vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application September 11, 1939, Serial No. 294,360

1 Claim. lICl. 95-31) trated my invention as embodied in a camera of the reflex, focal-plane or curtain-shutter type adapted to use the standard perforated miniature films, and one of the principal features of my invention is to reduce to a minimum the size and bulk of such cameras, and yet provide for all of the necessary operations with efficiency, precision, and facility. v

In order that the invention may be clearly understood I have illustrated some parts incidentally, such as the shutter operating and releasing mechanism set forth .in my pending application for Patent Ser. No. 146,485; the presser-plate structure for the iilm described and claimed in my said pending case, of which the present application is a continuation in part, and other parts are illustrated that have not been disclosed in my prior applications for patent covering different parts of the camera.

In the present application the invention consists essentially in the interior arrangement of the body of the camera wherein the structural arrangements provide a compact and close associagtion of interi parts that are readily accessible when required.

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a camera embodying my invention, the detachable rear wall being omitted to show the interior arrangement of the dark chamber of the camera.

Figure 2 is an inside view of the detachable rear plate or wall of the camera.

Figure 3 is a simplified horizontal sectional ,view of the camera body as at line 3-53 of Figure l.

Figure 4 is a sectionalview of the film-cutter extracted from the dark chamber of the camera.

The body of the camera is illustrated as comprising a casing C, which includes a supporting structure of metal,l preferably covered by leather or other suitable material, andthe casing, as seen best in Figure 3, is of trapezoidal shape in horizontal cross section.

Means oi mounting the lens at the front of the casing are partially indicated at L in Fig. 3, and a hood, indicated asa Whole by the letter H is mounted atthe top center of the camera, which hood encloses,the image-forming ground glass, and other parts not shown. l On the optical axis of the camera and directly to the rear of the lens mount of the camera, an interior, enclosed light chamber A is provided, having side walls I and 2, bottom 3, and the rear wall 4 fashioned with an aperture -5 located on the optical axis of the camera.

The camera is divided into several compartv ments by a longitudinally extending interior partition, shown and indicated in Figure l-by the numeral 6, and in its simplified form of Figure 3, the partition is shown with `a plane central portion l, which is also fashioned with a rectan- /gular exposure aperture 5', spaced from the rear Wall ofthe light chamber A and directly b\ehind -the aperture 5 in wall 4. This interior partition separates the rear portion of the camera into the dark chamber D that extends the full length of the camera body of the camera, and as best seen in Figure 3 the ends of the plane central section 'I of the partition terminates at its ends in crenelations 8 and 9, and beyond these crenelations the partition is formed with semi-circular walls I0 and II that merge in suitable manner withy the casing wall C.

The rear of the dark chamberv is closed by a detachable and removable rear wall or plate I2, which, as seenin Figure, at one end is provided with a hinge-hook I3 that' engages over a hingeflange I3 of the casing,vand at its other end the rear plate has a latchingj device I4 that co-acts with a complementary latching device I4' on the casing wall C. By pressing down on the slide button B, the latch III-Il' is released, and then the rear plate I2 may be swung loose from the camera on the hinge-hook I3 I3'. In replacing the rear plate I2 the hook I3 is iirst engaged over the flange I3', the plate is then swung on this hook-hinge toward the camera and the latchend of the plate is then pressed against the cami Aera to engage the latch device I 4-I 4.

As indicated in Figures 2 and 3 the inner side of the plate I2 is provided with a resiliently supported presser plate I5, and also a guide roller I6, for guiding the/nlm F across the aperture 5' after an exposure, and for retaining the nlm in close relationship to the plane section 1 of the partition while an exposure is being made.

` The lm F it will be understood is provided along its upper and lower edges with perforations as usual, land, these edges of the lm slide along two very thin tracks T, T, that extend longitudinally of the plane section 1, one above,and one below the aperture 5 between the crenelations 8 and 9, as seen in Figure 1, and the presser plate holds the lm edges against these dat tracks.

At the right end of the camera in Figure 3 a compartment I1 is provided which is enclosed by portions of the casing, the partition, and a wall of the light chamber, and within this compartment are located the two automatic spring wound rollers I8 and I9 for the two shutter curtains 20 and 2'I. At the left end of the casing a similar compartment, 22 is provided for the re-wnding rollers 23 and 24 of the curtains, and these curtains, successively, iiash across the narrow space between aperture 5 and the aperture 5 to make the exposure, being automatically wound upon the rollers I8 and I9, when these rollers are released by the usual operating button.

As indicated in Figure 2 the rear removable plate is provided with longitudinally extending inwardly projecting flanges 25 and 26, the former fitting in a bottom groove 21 of the camera body, and the latter fitting in a longitudinally extending slit or slot 28 above thepartition as seen in Fig. l, thus sealing the rear plate in a light-tight manner at the top and bottom of the dark chamber, while the ends of the dark chamber are also sealed in light-tight manner as heretofore described.

The removable and replaceable nlm-supply cartridge 29 with its interior roll or spool 30 is located in a recess formed by the partition-wall Ill, the rounded end of the casing C and the rounded end 3| of the rear removable plate, and the cartridge has the usual slot or mouth 32 through which the lm passes as the iilm is unwound from the spool, and the spool is journaled in open bearings 33 and 34 of the camera body as usual. The cartridge 29 of standard type, it will be understood, is slipped into its bearings to 'provide a fresh supply of film, and it is also slipped out of its bearings after its film has been used, to be replaced by a new cartridge. To hold the cartridge and the supply spool in its bearings against accidental displacement, I employ two vertically spaced spring blades 35 and 36 integral with a connecting bar 3'I.and the bar is riveted at 38 to the inside of the removable plate at its curved end 3|. These spring blades are designed to bear against the cartridge as in Figure 3 to hold the latter and the' spool back in the recess provided for them.l

' The nlm-winding spool 39 is journaled in the upper and lower walls of the casing and located in a similar recess at theopposite end of the dark chamber from the cartridge-recess, and the winding spool is rotated from the driving head Y vlvl of the camera; as indicated 1n dotted unes in laterally from a stem 42.

star-wheels 40, 40, as shown from the driving head to guide and hold taut the perforated film, and these star wheels are located within the crenelation 9 adjacent the guide roller I9 and the winding spool 39. The star wheels are journaled in bearings in the upper and lower walls of the casing, while the guide roller I6 is journaled in bearings on the inner side of the removable rear plate, and these parts are arranged so that the film, passing between them, is guided to the winding spool 39, which of course is removable.

In some instances, it ls desirable to remove the spool 39 with its exposed portion of a film, before the entire length of iilm has been exposed or withdrawn from the spool 3D. For this purpose I employ a lm cutter located within the crenelation 9, close to the mouth or slot 32 of thesupply spool, and supported at its upper and lower ends in thevcasing walls. One form of the cutter l employ is best illustrated in Figure 4 where the knife 4I is integral with and proiects At the lower end of the stem, and` exterior of the bottom of the casing a nut '43 is held by the screw 44, so that it .may be threaded on the lower end oi a sleeve 45,`

which is slotted at 45 to permit the knife to be drawn downwardly across the' film to sever the latter. As indicated in Fig. -1 the knife il is normally located above the top edge of the lm, and the guide sleeve for the knife is clamped in the bottom of the casing by the exterior nut 'and a flange on the sleeve. When the nut is baclred loose from the sleeve, it may be used as a knob or handle to pull the knife il across the illm to sever the latter.

An operating lever di is indicated in Figure l for advancing the iilm one frame at a time past the exposure apertures, and for setting the curtain shutters, and other features of the camera are illustrated for a clear understanding of the invention. Figure E, it will be understood, is in the nature of an exaggerated exempliflcaticn of the invention, the parts being conveniently spaced to permit a clear disclosure of the in vention.

Having thus fully described my, invention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

f The combination with a camera casing of subn stantially trapezoidal shape, of interior walls forming a light chamber located between the parallel sides of the casing, a longitudinally extending apertured partition .betweenthe back wall of the casing and said light chamber and having arcuate offset end portions merging with the front wall of the casing, and a focal plane shutter, said partition, front and back walls and shutter forming a 'dark chamber having at each end thereof semi-cylindrical film spool receptacles, and intermediate notches in said partition adapted to receive a iilm guiding deviceA and a hn cutting device respectively.

KARL NUCH'I'ERLEIN. 

